Real Parents Review: Pacific Rim and a note on Grownups 2

Pacific Rim:  This is what summer action blockbusters should all aspire to be.  This movie was fun, fast, action packed and BIG. It has been described by many as a cross between Transformers, Power Rangers and Godzilla.  What you haven't heard though, is that this movie tops each of those in almost every area.  We were able to catch two screenings of this movie last week, one in  IMAX 3D and one on a regular screen and wow, the difference was stunning.  For most movies I would normally tell you that the extra money for IMAX/3D is probably not well spent, but that is not the case here. Spend the few extra bucks to see this on the true IMAX screen and be amazed at the visuals throughout.  But, beware of the very real and lifelike big screen movements, because children have been known to get nauseous at an IMAX/3D movie. (Don't ask me how I know this.)

The first 10 minutes of the movie gives you the entire backstory of how the kaiju (giant monsters) arrived on Earth through a portal at the bottom of the Pacific.  To defend against them, the rest of the world bands together to build giant robots called Jaegers, which are controlled by pairs of pilots.  The Jaegers are successful, but the kaiju keep coming and coming and they must find a way to close the portal for good.

There are no A-list stars in this movie, but there are plenty of faces you will recognize who put in good performances.  There is tons of action and robot-on-kaiju violence, but its mostly cartoony in nature and not something I would think would be objectionable.  The monsters themselves are very scary and I think children under 10 could easily be scared by them.  There is no nudity and very little profanity (I can't really remember any at all), but the fight scenes are really intense.  I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a fun action movie that incorporates sci-fi and great visuals.  Dad gives this movie 4.5 stars and 9 year old son gives it 5 stars.

Grown Ups 2:  My 17 year old son asked me to take him to this preview screening.  I did not see Grownups 1.  And I don't have much to say about this movie.  I had a few chuckles and
maybe a few laughs and that was about it.  The movie starts out with a deer urinating all over Adam Sandler, his wife and other family members.  I have to believe this is actually a metaphor for how the
cast feels about its audience.  The movie is filled with these types of inane moments without any real purpose.  I have to believe that the target audience for this movie is 14-17 year old boys (based on the
amount of cleavage shown throughout the movie).  Needless to say, this is NOT a movie for young children (or even adults with functioning brains) despite the fact that there is no actual nudity (aside from very brief shots of the 4 stars jumping in the water naked - I tried really hard to forget that scene too) and not that much in the way of profanity.  There are a few fight scenes with some minimal violence, but mostly it is just really juvenile humor that's really not very funny.  My 17 year old son laughed throughout the whole movie. But he even said, this movie was really lame.  0 STARS